“If you like pirates, meet me in New Jersey”.

With that, Kurson is off to meet John Chatterton and John Mattera, world class divers and treasure hunters, who are chasing the ghost of Joseph Bannister, one of the legendary (but real) pirates of the Caribbean, and his ship the Golden Fleece. Only one documented pirate ship has ever been found – the Whydah, off the coast of Cape Cod.

Kurson does a great job not just of telling the tale of the search for the Golden Fleece, but of taking you inside the world of treasure hunters and paying homage to the grand old men of the industry. Tracy Bowden owns the lease rights for treasure hunting in the Dominican Republic (or Hispaniola as the pirates knew it). He’s got a lead on the shipwreck site, but is too old to chase it, and Chatterton & Mattera are masters of the new technology-driven world of ship finding. He brings in Chatterton and Mattera to go after it. On their first visit to his house, Chatterton takes a break to go to the bathroom. Upon walking into the bathroom he finds a bathtub full of “pieces of eight”, spanish silver coins. The bathtub has about 5 million dollars worth of treasure in it. Throughout the hunt for the Golden Fleece, the partners visit other legendary treasure hunters to seek advice or information, some humble men worth millions and others flashy.

Chatterton and Mattera are just about to launch on a search for the San Bartolomé, after years of prep. But the lure of finding a true pirate ship is too strong. They abandon their quest for the San Bartolomé and they’re off to the Dominican in search of the Golden Fleece.

Kurson does an admirable of job of weaving the history of pirates into the book, including interesting diversions such as how limbs were amputated after battle (turns out in that era, being in the Navy was probably the best place to have an amputation done as they were the best at it). And he visits many historical sites such as the museum in Key West were one of only two remaining original Jolly Roger flags is kept.

He also explores the details and dangers of deep sea diving and treasure hunting. Chatterton and Mattera are both larger-than-life figures. Chatterton is a long time diver, TV host, Vietnam war medic, and treasure hunter, while Mattera grew up rough-and-tumble, dancing on the edge of organized crime in New Jersey (he knew many top figures in the Gambino crime family, but escaped the life to become first a policeman, then a celebrity bodyguard, and then a commercial diver). Kurston brings them and their story to life in a way that would make a great movie. There’s the exciting bits, the ambush in the Dominican where gunfire is exchanged, and the quiet parts, talking to old fishermen and doing research reading ship’s logs and newspaper articles in an off-the-beaten path library in Seville, Spain – a real life Da Vinci code scene. Pirate Hunters has so many twists, turns, false starts and crazy discoveries, it would make an amazing work of fiction or movie, yet it’s all true.

At the heart of their attempt to find the shipwreck is the mystery of Joseph Bannister – a career captain and pilot, highly successful and trusted. But one day, he “went pirate”. History is silent on why such a highly respected, successful captain would do such a thing. If you think it sounds like an episode of Black Sails, you’re not far wrong. Mattera ultimately develops a theory for what happened to Bannister, and, without giving anything away, this theory ultimately becomes a major turning point in their quest.

Pirate Hunters is a fantastic book. I read it in one sitting and I’m not sure I took a break. It’s about pirates and history and the thrill of the chase, but ultimately it’s about chasing your dreams and not settling for the easy way in life. Chatterton and Mattera almost give up more than once, and could easily be doing other things for less effort and more money, but they nearly sacrifice everything in their quest.

(ps: I love a book that points you to other great books. Pirate Hunters is a winner here too: Kurson points me to The Buccaneers of America, an amazing first-person contemporary account of Pirates. You can get the book for free online. The Library of Congress has also made an extremely interesting online version of the original book in Dutch with wonderful illustrations. It’s too cool, check it out: http://www.loc.gov/flash/pagebypage/buccaneers/)

(I received a copy of Pirate Hunters through LibraryThing’s wonderful Early Reviewers program, in exchange for a review. )

“Nero fiddled while Rome burned…” You probably have this phrase running around in your head, even though you mostly have no idea who Nero was. It’s even less likely you know who Seneca was.

James Romm’s “Dying Every Day” is an accessible and intriguing biography of Seneca, the man behind the throne during the reign of Nero. Seneca is a study in contradictions: a Stoic philosopher, author of any number of letters, philosophical tracts and plays extolling the virtues of a simple, virtuous life, he was at the same time Nero’s “consigliere”, complicit in any number of foul deeds and deeply entrenched in the corrupt court of Nero. Intrigue, Poison and outright murder of political rivals was common. He was also present in the courts of Caligula and Claudius. The parallels to Thomas Cromwell as portrayed in Hilary Mantel’s “Wolf Hall” are striking.

I found the book deeply interesting and educational, and an easy read for a history book. The title comes from one of Seneca’s letters, “Consolation to Marcia”, in which he expounds the Stoic philosophy that to be born is to begin dying, and that death is always with us. “We are all of us dying every day”. But equally well might this apply to Seneca’s slow spiritual death, essentially trapped in his role as Nero’s right hand.

For years Seneca served first as Nero’s tutor during his early years, then as his primary counselor once Nero became emperor. There’s a great Greek word for this, from the book – Seneca was called a tyrannodidaskalos – “tyrant-teacher”.

I learned any number odd facts from the book. Seneca’s brother Gallio was proconsul of a territory in Greece where the apostle Paul was preaching, and after a disturbance Paul was brought before Gallio (who like Pilate “washed his hands” of the matter). (Paul was a Roman citizen by the way). Eventually Paul invoked his right as a citizen to an appeal before the emperor and was shipped to Rome. While there’s no documentation of a meeting it’s entirely likely Paul met the emperor, and there is evidence (somewhat sketchy) that Paul became friends with Seneca.

Seneca also became fabulously wealthy during his life (likely through questionable use of his office), and lent a great deal of money to tribal leaders in Roman Britain. The uprising of the tribes led by the woman warrior Boudicca can be traced to Seneca calling in his loans.

The book chronicles the twists and turns of life at court – the intrigues, the murders, and the shifting alliances that allowed one to stay alive when a wrong word would get you killed by the emperor or a rival. Along side that it covers Seneca’s writings and how they influence or were influenced by events. The book is well worth the read, but in the end I wasn’t entirely satisfied. Much of the book seems speculation (phrases like “he must have…” or “likely” crop up a lot) and I don’t feel I really got to the heart of the contradiction in Seneca’s character – but the historical facts are so spare, perhaps that has to wait for a work of fiction. There’s great material for a historical fiction novel in there….